CHAPTER 2
"Dan?"
When she saw the warm brown eyes, she knew it was him. Her heart stopped panicking, until she noticed the expression on his face. It was far more than just worried. It was distraught. She rarely ever saw him this way. He was usually her happy, cheerful boyfriend. Without even asking what happened, she got up from her bed, and pulled him into a long, long hug.
"Your mom let me in," he whispered, hugging her back. "I-"
"It's okay," she promised, even though she didn't know what happened with him.
"It finally happened," he mumbled quietly. "My mom and dad got divorced. I knew it was coming, Jenny and I always had the feeling. But now that it's actually been finalized... my mom packed her bags and left for Hudson again, probably to go make out with that stupid Alex guy. And I just keep thinking this is my dad's opportunity to try and date your mom."
"I'm so sorry," she whispered, kissing his cheek. "It was hard when my parents got divorced, too. But whatever happens, I'm not going to lose you. I know that you and I are serious about this, and my mom knows it damn well. Nothing can change this. I will always love you, Dan."
"Can we take our minds off of our parents?" Dan asked. "I wanted to tell you what happened today, but I also just wanted to take my mind off of it. And I know there's nobody who can make me happier than you."
Serena looked into his eyes sincerely, repeating, "Of course."
They stayed on her bed, and she wrapped her arms around him, coaxing him. The day wasn't perfect, but Serena certainly was the highlight of his day. With some movie and being in Serena's arms, there really wasn't any place he would have rather been than there.
Serena woke up to the sound of emptiness. Dan wasn't there, and then she immediately remembered how the prior night ended. It ended badly, and that's just the start of it. After hanging up with Blair, she waited for hours, but Dan's call never came. That wasn't her expectation of how the night would end- with her crying because he didn't call. She was looking forward to it. Was there a reason? Did he forget to call her?
She was expecting a lustful, exciting night. Her hands running through Dan's brown hair... their lips pressed against each other's. And she was certainly hoping to wake up next to him the next morning, to say it subtly.
She wasn't going to miss the opportunity to fix things, though. Immediately, she jumped out of bed and put something decent on, and then headed out to find Dan. She was going to find out why he didn't call, and she was going to find out exactly how he felt about her. After their very intimate kissing, she was almost positive Dan had feelings for her, unless he was using her to take his mind off of Tiffany, but she didn't think so.
Or maybe it was true, because as soon as she made it to his room, she saw Tiffany leaving it.
"There she is," Dan muttered, shaking his head. "Serena van der Woodsen, present and ready to make excuses."
"What?" Serena asked. "Why didn't you call me last night? And why is Tiffany leaving your room?"
"You should know why I didn't call you last night," Dan said, rolling his eyes. "And I don't owe you an explanation for Tiffany. You're not my girlfriend. I'm done being toyed with. Go play with Carter Baizen."
"I seriously don't know what you're talking about!" Serena yelled. "I may not be your girlfriend, but why would you sleep with Tiffany when you promised me that you'd call me after you got back from Nate's?"
"You actually expected me to call you after you betrayed me like that?" Dan asked. "Just for the record, I didn't sleep with Tiffany. I merely invited her over to talk about a possible relationship in the future, and we kissed. Now, we're not together or anything, but I'd certainly rather hang out with her than you. Get out."
"I don't even know what I did to you to make you hate me this much," she sighed.
"If you honestly don't see what the fault in your actions yesterday was, then I'm glad we didn't get back together," Dan said, folding his arms. "Vanessa really helped me dodge a bullet. We almost slept together yesterday. I can't thank her enough for walking in on us. Now leave."
"You're an idiot," Serena snapped, rolling her eyes. "I thought you were the good guy."
"Wow. I'm the bad guy in all of this?" Dan asked, shaking his head. "We don't ever need to speak again, Serena. I'm done with this."
"Glad we finally agree on something today," Serena sarcastically said, storming out of his room, slamming the door on her way out.
Upon arriving back to her own room, she received a call from Blair. She sighed when she picked it up. Of course, she always wanted to be a good friend to Blair, but with her own Dan problems, she wasn't exactly in the mood to give her advice on Chuck, which was usually what she called for.
"S, we have a major problem!" Blair cried through the phone.
"What did Chuck do this time, B?" Serena asked, sighing loudly.
"Chuck and I are perfectly fine," Blair said, rolling her eyes. "This is about you. I know you're probably waking up with Dan right now, but I would make sure he steers clear of Gossip Girl, because there's a pretty nasty rumor going on, and it makes you look like a cheater. Please tell me it isn't true, or things with Dan are not going to work out when he sees it."
"I have nothing to worry about with him. We didn't get back together last night," Serena told her. "He never called, and I asked him why today, but he's mad at me for no reason. I don't even know what I did to him!"
"Oh, sweetie, check Gossip Girl immediately, because she has all your answers," Blair informed her. "It looks like Gossip Girl's just written a false article about how you've been secretly seeing Carter Baizen, and I'll assume that's why Dan's pissed at you."
"No wonder he mentioned Carter when I went to see him..." Serena muttered, sighing. "This doesn't make sense! I kissed Carter once over the summer, and I was just trying to get over Dan after we broke up. I haven't seen him since I told him it was a mistake."
"Gossip Girl is the master of making people believe lies," Blair said. "Someone must have sent in a tip with a photo of you kissing Carter from the summer with yesterday's date stamp on it. So, that explains why Dan didn't want to call you. He thinks you're switching off between him and Carter. If I was him, I wouldn't want that, either."
"I have to make things right with him," Serena said, sighing. "Thank you for helping me, B. I owe you one."
"You don't owe me anything, but you really do owe Dan something, because now he's probably angrily thinking about what a bitch you were to him," Blair reminded. "But who would have sent that tip in? They would have really wanted to make sure you don't get back together with him. As much as I'm not Team Dan or anything, I wouldn't do that to you."
"For some strange reason, I think I have an idea of who did this to me," Serena said.
"What? Seriously? Who do you think it is?" Blair asked.
"Vanessa."
